Lei

Fallen Soldiers

Photo courtesy of Ro.

The administrator in charge of our nursing home called me today. She said the appliance repairman came to our nursing home this morning. Our Maytag "quiet" operation washing machine is not so quiet anymore and is leaking a bit so I called the service people to look at it. The estimated repair cost came in at roughly the same price as a brand new unit if not more being around five hundred dollars. Time to go appliance shopping again.

Then she told me about another takedown. She stepped out onto 8th street this afternoon when she noticed a man being chased down by a dog. It barked and barked and barked but didn't hurt the man. He seemed like he was really high on drugs as three police cruisers had pulled up around him. One of the four or five officers there continued to yell at him "Get down! Get down!" over and over again. The man didn't listen. He was surrounded and pushed over to the grass away from the concrete sidewalk.

The staff at our nursing home had now closed the door to the street and everyone just watched through the window with great interest.

The man got back up and tried to get away again.
"Get down!" yelled one of the officers as he aimed the lazer on his gun at the man's head.
He couldn't walk. He just stumbled around probably unable to understand what was going on let alone have any bodily control over himself. He fell down, hit his head on the concrete and began to bleed. Finally he laid down on the grass. An ambulance was called and the dog was ordered to stop barking.

When the ambulance came, the paramedics came out in full protective gear, bullet proof vests and all. They didn't want to take any chances with this man. I wonder what he was being arrested for in the first place.

The Battle Continues

Paintball was a success last weekend. We managed to get thirty people out to shoot each other all saturday afternoon. In one of the last battles, my beloved volleyball girl was right in there shooting it out in a game of capture the flag. I was also one of the last few out of that game too. She was so frustrated though. She really wanted to find the flag. Unfortunately, she was outnumbered three to one with her being the last person on our side still fighting. Her other friend had problems with her gun so I helped unjam her gun a few times too. Then the two of them let loose and unloaded what they had left of their ammunition on an obstacle in one of the paintball fields. No one was screaming.

I got a bit sick because my face mask was too tight around my head. The strap was gimped and non-adjustable. By the second war game I was feeling like my life was being sucked out of me. So why didn't I just go and get another mask? Because I am an idiot.

Things didn't go as well with volleyball girl later on that day especially after my friend started sticking his nose into our relationship. He asked her what she thought of me and she told him that she didn't sense anything between us. As Gambit says, a big dagger to the heart. My friend got shot in the adam's apple that day during paintball too. I didn't shoot him but someone did. When I look back at this, it seems appropriate. The universe works in mysterious ways. That's for meddling in other people's relationships.

So I had a long chat with volleyball girl and I think things are ok again. There was a little bit of misunderstanding which I knew my nosy friend would not understand. He's a bit short sighted. However I'm still worried or skeptical of anything happening at all now. Maybe I've blown it still. God I hate second guessing everything.

The next few days I didn't feel like doing much other than work being somewhat depressed and a bit nauscious in the head at the same time. My friends convinced me to watch Nacho Libre. It has its funny moments but I actually dozed off through sections of the movie.

On thursday I threw another beach bbq giving people only one to three days notice. A couple friends had out of town guests so they brought them out. We had a spot at Spanish Banks Beach and set up two volleyball courts in the sand. The turn out was good at around twenty four people for the first of what will be many days and evenings at this beach. Not sure exactly how much will continue to come out regularly though. For food, I conjured up a whole whack of spicy chicken shiskebobs, smokies and caesar salad. The new shiny stainless portable bbq has been great. Good enough to feed the size of group I had out that evening.

This is the start of what I hope will be our summer beach volleyball series. Twice a week every thursday evening and sunday afternoon now through August so long as the weather is hot and sunny.

Hockey was a battle this evening. A big loss against BLG, a law firm who has a number of really good players. We didn't have enough forwards to match their speed and our defense kept getting caught on odd man rushes. This was even after one of our players noticed that the good players on their team weren't hogging the puck all the time since they had so many. They actually passed the puck to their much weaker female players too. However their weaker female players were never around on their rushes because they were too slow to get into the play. I felt weak out there on the ice this time. Too much running around on the ice and not being a hundred percent healthy during the week. My layoff from hockey has been too long.

The Relentless Persuit of Perfection

It was overcast and there was no sun beating down on us. The light breeze was moderately warm. Looking out across the water and all around us, I could see a wall of mist, acting as a barrier in the far distance against the impending rain from our dry sandy beach. My team is protected.

At the other end of the beach a production crew had set up equipment with lights and camera's to film a car commercial. They had a tall ramp with water running down it while a Lexus suv sat on the sand near the real water.

We played our last game of the spring series yesterday and once again we only won the first match. After that we began to lose most of our games. At one point the ball was falling down in front of Wendy when Calvin came running across and practically pushed her aside in a moment of desperation. Similar to the seen in that Seinfeld episode where George pushes the children and old woman out of the way to save himself first when the fire starts in the kitchen at a kids birthday party.

Despite our losses, every team there envied us. They did so because they could smell the food from our bbq close by. Throughout the three matches, we always had one or two people sitting out to tend to the food. I even noticed a tall guy from one team we lost to sneak some chips from us. He was the loudest and most vocal person on his team. A bit rude at times too but he went to the extent of turning away from his team so that they wouldn't see him eating. They too wanted our food. After most of the games in our end of the beach had ended, a young man and woman from another team we lost to stood alone at the net watching us as we ate, drinking our beer, eating our thick juicy burgers with freshly sliced tomatoes, red onions, edam and provolone cheese with crisp green lettuce. So we offered them some and they obliged. I brought the majority of food and supplies for my team bbq again and it turned out good. Now we also have a couple of new friends to play beach volleyball with. Offer strangers good food and you will make new friends. By the end of the evening, it would start to rain. Once again we are protected by heaven as before.

Even though we will have no league to play in for the summer, we now have enough people to fill a couple of courts plus a few sets of nets and lines. I also found a couple of spots to play at which are not used by any leagues during the week.

Paintball this weekend is going as planned. I've gathered approximately twenty nine or so people for four hours of chaos in the woods of south surrey. This was at the request of two friends who are celebrating their birthdays and somehow I've become the organizer. I was rather surprised when I found out that it was really Wendy's idea. It's her birthday. Volleyball girl even likes it too. This also surprised me but who am I to complain? I was almost beginning to think that I would not get to see her again despite her reassurances that I would.

At hockey last friday, I went up to the bar for some food and drinks with the other players. At first it was mostly just the guys as the girlfriends or wives were playing back to back games helping another coed team who were short female players. As I sat there in the bar, I found that the new people playing just for the summer like myself are all organizers of their own teams as well. Kind of like a meeting of the coaches as they all shared stories of deadbeat players and such. It didn't sound that bad though. My friends on our team already cut one player for not showing up. The husband and wife duo currently running it didn't seem too pleased.

Back In the Line of Duty

Arrgh! What is going on?!?!?! Everything has decided to break down all at once in a span of one or two days at the nursing home. First the central vacuum cleaner decides to pack it in. Then the computer decides to die. Afterwards one of the washing machines springs a leak and then the roof joins in as well. I went up into the large cavern of an attic and find three places where water is dripping.

So I call the roofing company that installed the shingles many years ago and learn that they are no longer in business. I place a call to a different company only to have them tell me to call back the next morning because they are closed for the day. Another company takes my contact info and never returns my call. I set up an appointment with a third company and they don't even show up. Luckily the rain stopped today.

Meanwhile I first assume that the small circuit board in the central vac is broken so I get a replacement from the original dealer. They give me a box with the part inside except that when I bring it to the home and go to install it, The part inside is not what it is supposed to be. I decide to call the guy at the factory dealer office and tell him what has happened describing specifically what the original part looks like and what features it has, spec's and all which are written in plain english on the part. Then I ask him to kindly look for the proper part in his warehouse before wasting another trip to his place in case they don't have it. He finds one which he thinks is the part but what is his response to matching my description to what he has in front of him at his warehouse?
"There are no letters or numbers on the circuit board."
This is ridiculous. No company produces a circuit board without some sort of description written on it. So I persist in asking him the same line of question.
"Are you sure? Not even a power rating or serial number?"
"Sorry, there's nothing."
"Ok, I have a wiring diagram or schematic of the board for my model. There should be one push button, an led power light and a pair of power connectors. Do you see that on the one you have there?" All words are written in plain english and the schematic is not large or complicated. The board has very few parts.
"The one in the box you sold me is wrong. It has two push buttons and does not match my old one nor the electrical schematic which it came with."
"I'm sorry sir, I can not tell you. You'll just have to bring yours in."
What an idiot. I make the trip back to the dealer and it turns out that they do not even have an exact replacement off the shelf. I get to speak with the technician instead of the salesguy and he ends up removing the part I need from another brand new unit in the warehouse. I look at the part and see the usual inscriptions on the top and bottom as expected. The technicians response to me about all this is "you didn't speak to me. I'm the technician. He's just the sales guy."
Later on, I install the new part but it doesn't fix the problem. I put the vacuum hose into the wall and pull it out hearing the relay click on and off on the circuit board. It's the motor. Even though the motor can be removed in seconds with great ease, I return back to the dealer with the whole central vac in hand and they finally get it sorted out. Instead of paying a few hundred dollars for a complete motor the technician just replaces the carbon commutator pads. The old ones were worn out so much that the motor could not start even when 120 volts of electricity is applied. This fix was a much more simple and less costly repair.

In the end, I think I will have shortened my lifespan by a tiny percentage. Breathing in all the fine dust particles from playing around with the central vac and creating a huge cloud of fiberglass dust particles while exploring in the attic without a mask on wasn't the smartest move on my part. At least there wasn't any asbestos insulation.

The staff at the nursing home was really excited yesterday. When I arrived trying to get the vacuum fixed, I noticed a swat team outside. A car had crashed into a large tree across the street in front of the home and a man was down on the ground with one or more shotguns pointed at his head. A number of police vehicles had surrounded the one getaway vehicle. Three or four other men were already handcuffed and in the process of being taken away. During this time the one man on the ground was lying face down. It had been raining and the front of his body was completely soaked from the grass. As a bit of courtesy, the swat team allowed him to stand up against the tree while one officer pulled his hoody over his head to help keep his head dry, shotguns still pointing at him. How nice? In any case, these young men had attempted a kidnapping and all were known to the local authorities. Next morning, CBC news came by. They knocked on our door asking one of the staff to comment on what had happened the previous day. The one female healthcare worker was so afraid of the attention that she just said no and turned them away. There goes her possible minute of fame. She could have been on the noon hour news, the five o'clock news, the six o'clock news and the evening news.

I picked up the new amplifier from across the border yesterday, junked the ol Sony two channel and put in an Alpine four channel to power the new Rockford Fosgate component's and my old 8" subwoofer. Wow what a difference. The base equalization boost for sub 50Hz frequencies really does the trick plus the extra power. I think the old amp was gimped not realizing it all this time. The new component speakers are much better. With the increased power, the large inverted aluminum dome tweeters make all the highs much more pleasant to listen to with the volume turned up. Now I'm playing with some power. Though at the same time, while shopping online for the amplifier, I noticed a lot of models with still much more power which I knew was overkill. I don't want to go deaf. The Alpine MRP-F250 is plenty loud enough. I could feel the pressure building inside the cabin of my truck and on my ears. I'm not sure if this is really the case but as a result of the increased pressure, popping my ears is more difficult without having the windows opened slightly.

I am an idiot. I did not heed the advice of my friend and so after next wednesday, we will not have a beach volleyball league to play in. I assumed that the league would have contacted me directly being the captain of a team in the spring series to ask if they wanted us to rejoin for the summer series as they had done with us for the fall and winter series. Instead, no message was sent directly to me and we are now on a waiting list behind fourteen other teams. Apparently, I was supposed to check the league website a couple of months ago and register back then instead of one month in advance. I live and learn I suppose. The only flip side to this is that now I will try to organize a regular meeting at the beach for volleyball and possibly a bbq amongst ourselves. This then gives us the time to spend training the newbies how to play properly instead of just playing in league games without proper practices.

I donned my old gear to play ice hockey for my friends co-ed team tonight. A couple is getting married this summer so I agreed to help co-fill their spot with another person as they take time to plan their special event. I look at this as though I've been drafted for duties on the blue line. The war has returned. There goes my friday evenings.

Weekday Evenings II

My former coworker drove up from Portland, Oregon with his family. I spent a whole day helping him troubleshoot a satellite system at his parents house. We later went to a taiwanese restaurant for lunch that I had never tried before. If anyone is in the richmond area, it's right beside richmond sushi. I'm not saying it was great but the sauteed eggplant in sauce was really good. Everything else was alright. Afterwards, we went around to the various asian video stores in the same shopping complex looking for a chinese movie on dvd. My former coworker had borrowed it from his friend who claims that he had never returned it. So we went around looking for this movie only to find it on vcd's instead of the real dvd's. One place openly offered to sell us a copy on a blank vcd. We didn't think his friend would appreciate that so I brought him to a store in Park Place mall. Another asian shopping center except here the shop had all the good legal stuff. After that, I brought him and his family bowling. The last time I saw his daughters was about two years ago and boy have they grown. The youngest one is three and is twice as big as before. Still cute as ever as I watched the mother help her with the five pin bowling ball. She would just throw the ball straight down with a loud bang. I shuddered to imagine the cries of pain if she had dropped the ball on her own feet.

It was only the second last class and having looked at the days lesson online and feeling a bit off still from a hike the previous day, I skipped class this week. Yeah, I'm really bad but the material wasn't anything new. Instead I did some work at the nursing home and went for dinner with the cakemaker and a couple of friends. They wanted to have barbecued lamburgers which I'd normally be up for except that I wasn't feeling very well. Luckily by the time I got there, I was feeling much better. After watching my friend and his fiance struggle to chop up and tenderize the meat off some fresh lambchops with a sorry excuse for a butchers knife and a borrowed but broken tipped Henckel knife, the patties were made and I ate mine.

Wednesday evening volleyball was good this week. Even though the weather was questionable grey clouds hovering above for the duration of the evening, I pressed forward and held my first beach bbq for the team. Finally I got to use my shiny new stainless steel portable bbq. We got there late so I had one injured player on the team tend to the food while people rotated in and out of the lineup for food breaks. My last minute shish kebobs were good, one guy burned his mouth with the cheese filled smokies and we won two out of the three matches this time. A first for our team. Woohoo! Being the organizer of this team, I feel like I am both the coach and the captain of everyone. And with the majority of the players being younger than me and without prior knowledge or skill in this sport, I have come to feel as though I am the coach and organizer of events for the children who are just my friends. Even more so because some of the women are rather short. Similarly, the other day I was teaching a friend how to swim. No one had ever done that for her apparently.

Tonight was the last session of train & play down at urban beach volleyball. It rained briefly in the afternoon leaving the courts filled with wet and packed down sand in all but one. Strange right? All the nets were waterlogged and sagged way down in the middle unless you drained them at which point, the centers would instantly rise up almost a whole foot. Regardless, it was still good. We were all pigs happily playing in the mud to a certain extent. Not many people were diving for balls and it wasn't too cold either. Afterwards, everyone went to Original Joes for food before departing. I exchanged contact info with some of the tall people who play regularly on the weekends and enter tournaments at the various beaches; spanish banks, jericho and kits. The summer series starts soon and I look forward to it. Finally what I wanted last year!